Thursday, January 15, 2009

Blogging About History

I would use blogging in my classroom as a project based inquiry. I would have my third graders respond to events in history that helped shape the world we live in today. One example is to have my students blog about Martin Luther King, not that he was a peaceful leader and not that he gave a speech. I would have them blog about what it was like to live during this time in our history.

If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King is my favorite book to use when teaching students about Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement. This book has an engaging question-answer format that really builds background knowledge. Students begin to understand what it was like to participate in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, stage a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter, join the March on Washington, and so much more. I would use this resource as a springboard for blogging discussions. My students always have such genuine, authentic responses during the share aloud of this book, blogging will provide them an audience for collaborating and sharing ideas.

2 comments:

I like your choice of having students blog as if they lived in that time period! What a great way to have your students create and be producers not consumers, the new buzz word prosumers! Getting them started now will help them as they go through the education system. Cheryl

Great history idea! I have not read the book that you referenced, thank you for the tip. Have your 3rd graders ever participated in a blog before? If not, you might have to spend a good amount of time discussing what a blog is and how it works. It would be interesting to have older students in the school comment on your students' ideas. Does your school allow students to use a blog? Do you need parent permission? A lot of blog sites are blocked in my district. I have to talk to the technology department to see how my classroom can become part of a blog this year.